Sempiternity

This has been my biggest difficulty with working towards Enlightenment. So far no one here has really answered this. People can have opinions, beliefs or concepts of what is there beyond a Self/Ego. Some say it is impossible, as there can be no human existence, without at least some Ego. To have none is death. One cannot answer this question without having achieved it. Hence the conundrum. Does one spend their life working towards something that they can't understand, or even know is possible, just to basically kill themselves in the end? If true enlightenment, which is death of Self occurs, there is no self to enjoy it. So isn't it better to be a Self and enjoy it, for as long as you're alive? You'll be dead soon enough. Why waste the gift on trying to get there faster? Hopefully @Leo Gura weighs in on this.

When I first started watching Leo's videos, I instantly got engrossed in the teachings. I got addicted to watching them all. As they all build off of each other. So in watching most all videos, I was getting a clearer and clearer picture of how I personally could actually achieve Enlightenment and end all my suffering. Then I discovered there was a Forum on the website. I was excited to engage with others that were on a similar path. Discussing many of the intricacies of the wisdom. To my surprise, it seemed, at least to me, that many people on the Forum seem to have not seen many of Leo's videos. Or coming from a place of opinion and beliefs on Truth, other than the teachings. Of course all are welcome, but I guess my question is, why come to this particular forum, based on a very particular and specific teachings / wisdoms / beliefs / line of thought, if you either don't follow a similar path, want to be on a similar path as what actualized.org teaches, or interested enough to watch a majority of the videos to share an informed opinion of that site's Forum? No kind of accusations or anything, I'm generally curious to hear other thoughts on this. Thanks!

If I spent thousands of hours and maybe decades to finally completely kill myself / Ego / sense of self and separateness, and realize limitless infinity / God. In that ultimate moment of killing off the very last bit I'm holding onto, is it possible for my body to die too at that crucial moment? I guess that fear of actually killing my body (in this case, accidental suicide), would be that last fear block that would keep me from going into complete enlightenment. With this block, I'd always be at 99%, never able to get past that last percent. And I know that if my body did die, it wouldn't matter. I'd still be consciousness, without a Self, which is what enlightenment is. So no difference. I'm more concerned with not being able to enjoy being enlightened while "I'm' this life, because that fear block of dying, whether rational or not, is keeping me from achieving this. And of course as I progress and achieve higher consciousness, my fears will dissipate as well. So yeah, do you think it's medically possible for the physical body to die, when the Self dies? Has this ever happen? And if it did, how would we know? Have others had this fear and got over it? If so, how?

Oops, sorry.

Good timing. Leo's latest video covers this very topic very well. Jump to 58:00.

"Ego killing is as stupid" If you believe that, why come to his site, just to tell people your opinions? I wouldn't necessarily go to Dodge dealership site and comment that vehicles are stupid and I believe in bicycling. What would be the point in that, other than to get the satisfaction of me being right? I'd personally go to a bicycling site to discuss bicycling, and not bother with the car dealership sites.

I'm going off of Leo's teachings, which is what this site is based on, which is about No Self / Ego.

Never said the path to enlightenment was quick and easy, quite the contrary. Just even watching Leo's last blog video from his 30 day retreat, showed me just how hard it is. It's literally killing yourself, but worse. You have to have the will to slowly kill yourself, layer after layer, for maybe decades, till there's nothing left of you. You have to have that level of will to kill your(self). No easy task. Nothing matters. Just curious and thought it a good topic of conversation. People can do whatever, just curious about thought patterns and reasonings. But, none of it matters. I'm on my path and doing the work. Just haven't gotten to the place of doing it 24/7. Little bit at a time. As much as I can. But also leaves time for other pursuits within the realm of my interests.

No Self, no psychopathic tendencies. It's all part of Identity / Ego / Self. Enlightenment being the loss of Self. Once achieved there is no relating to anyone else as separate than you.

*note* I'm really asking Leo here and hope he has the time to answer. I'm not looking for every Joe blo's opinion from their beliefs. I'm not interested in opinions. If you really think you can answer these questions, from actual experience, and not coming from a place of feeding your Ego's importance, then yes please, I'd love to hear your wisdom. In the video, you talk abut it taking the will to give up literally everything, including the will to live, to become Enlightened / Awake. You have to 100% commit and surrender to dying. Not 99%, but 100% giving up your life totally and completely. The will to pull the trigger, but 1000 times worse, as your killing yourself over years or decades. Watching everything in your life, everything you love, all slowly die off piece by piece. Sounds like the worst misery. But, you're saying this is the only way to actually wake up. The Only way out of the suffering. The only way to ever actually feel true love for anything. But here's the problem I have. I've already died. I've stopped breathing, turned grey, lips blue, and felt the numbness and darkness envelope me. Felt my life fade away into nothingness. I got to the very very edge of forever death. And in that moment, on that edge, I said 'No, no I will not go now! I will fight with my very last bit of will to not go over that edge. I had more will than I ever have in my life to stay alive. And I did. I met death and lived. But in this video, you say the only way I can become Enlightened, to become Awake, to ever stop all the suffering, to actually experience real Love, is to go to that exact same space on the edge and say "I surrender to death". I...I, do not think I can do that. Knowing what it felt like to die, I don't think I can willfully do that to myself. Now here's my real fear, knowing that I can't willfully kill myself, I might spend the rest of my life knowing that this is the only thing there is to do with my life. Nothing, absolutely nothing, not sex, not women, not pleasure, not purpose, not companionship, not even love, or even the basic joy of being alive, absolutely nothing is going to satisfy me or bring me any kind of real happiness. Only being Awake / Enlightened / Truth / being God, will I ever experience peace. Knowing that this is possible, and never trying, will drive me mad. Always knowing its there and possible, but I'm too chicken to try, the rest of my life will be fucked. If I try and fail for decades, wasting my life, my life is fucked. If I can't summon the will to actually kill myself (which I know I can't do), then the rest of my life is fucked. I won't be able to forget this, or let it go of this, if I know that there is a chance that all the suffering can actually go away. I just don't know what to do, if I can't do what you're saying I have to do in this video. Sorry for all the reading to do, I tried to make this as succinct as possible. And thank you for any answers or insights.

*note* I'm really asking Leo here and hope he has the time to answer. I'm not looking for every Joe blo's opinion from their beliefs. I'm not interested in opinions. If you really think you can answer these questions, from actual experience, and not coming from a place of feeding your Ego's importance, then yes please, I'd love to hear your wisdom. Fist off, awesome first video. Can't wait to see the other 2. I have some questions for you. I've been to that place you talk about, the infinite knowledge, the no body, no Self, one with everything, but nothing, no life, no death, just being and love. I've been there many many times, through Ayahuasca, DMT, and high doses of psilocybin mushrooms. I go there actually quite easily. There's always the disappointment once I come back from the trip and the experience of that fades after days. How do you truly KNOW that place is Truth, if you're going off an experience on drugs? Or a similar experiences not on drugs, but you're comparing it to the experience you had on any 'drug'? Wouldn't there always be the doubt/possibility it is just a drug trip experience, until you actually achieved that absolute Truth / Awakening / Enlightenment / God / permanent Death of Self? How do any of us know this is actually true (I trust your authenticity completely) if you the teacher are not on the other side (which you claim exists, but have not fully achieved *Yet*)? (I really hope you got there during your retreat and excited to hear how it went.) In all your videos, you talk mostly about How to get to Awakening / Truth / Infinity / Nothing / God. You talk about what it's like on the other side of Ego death/ true death (knowing you where never alive to begin with). But, I'd love to hear you talk about what the rest of life is like after Awakening? Sure, it's 'immortality', but what does a day to day life look like after you are God? How does knowing there is no material reality, it's all a dream, effect the way you day to day relate to everything? What does one do, when they are God? How do they react to things in life? How do you desire anything, when there is no You to desire? How do you enjoy anything, when there is no You to enjoy it? How can you experience anything, when there is no You to experience? *Sorry for all the reading to do, I tried to make this as succinct as possible. And thank you for any answers or insights.

Thank you, Leo. No offense meant in my questions. I appreciate you journey. I admire it greatly. I guess where I'm stuck, and you cover this in your blog video, is I have to trust this is 100% possible, for me to fully dedicate myself to doing the work.

Thank you, Leo. That is wonderful advice

*note* I'm really asking Leo here and hope he has the time to answer. I'm not looking for every Joe blo's opinion from their beliefs. I'm not interested in opinions. If you really think you can answer these questions, from actual experience, and not coming from a place of feeding your Ego's importance, then yes please, I'd love to hear your wisdom. In the video, you talk abut it taking the will to give up literally everything, including the will to live, to become Enlightened / Awake. You have to 100% commit and surrender to dying. Not 99%, but 100% giving up your life totally and completely. The will to pull the trigger, but 1000 times worse, as your killing yourself over years or decades. Watching everything in your life, everything you love, all slowly die off piece by piece. Sounds like the worst misery. But, you're saying this is the only way to actually wake up. The Only way out of the suffering. The only way to ever actually feel true love for anything. But here's the problem I have. I've already died. I've stopped breathing, turned grey, lips blue, and felt the numbness and darkness envelope me. Felt my life fade away into nothingness. I got to the very very edge of forever death. And in that moment, on that edge, I said 'No, no I will not go now! I will fight with my very last bit of will to not go over that edge. I had more will than I ever have in my life to stay alive. And I did. I met death and lived. But in this video, you say the only way I can become Enlightened, to become Awake, to ever stop all the suffering, to actually experience real Love, is to go to that exact same space on the edge and say "I surrender to death". I...I, do not think I can do that. Knowing what it felt like to die, I don't think I can willfully do that to myself. Now here's my real fear, knowing that I can't willfully kill myself, I might spend the rest of my life knowing that this is the only thing there is to do with my life. Nothing, absolutely nothing, not sex, not women, not pleasure, not purpose, not companionship, not even love, or even the basic joy of being alive, absolutely nothing is going to satisfy me or bring me any kind of real happiness. Only being Awake / Enlightened / Truth / being God, will I ever experience peace. Knowing that this is possible, and never trying, will drive me mad. Always knowing its there and possible, but I'm too chicken to try, the rest of my life will be fucked. If I try and fail for decades, wasting my life, my life is fucked. If I can't summon the will to actually kill myself (which I know I can't do), then the rest of my life is fucked. I won't be able to forget this, or let it go of this, if I know that there is a chance that all the suffering can actually go away. I just don't know what to do, if I can't do what you're saying I have to do in this video. Sorry for all the reading to do, I tried to make this as succinct as possible. And thank you for any answers or insights.

From what I understand (which admittedly isn't much), your Ego doesn't exist and is the illusion of something, you don't exist, Leo doesn't exist, none of us exist. All there is is infinite nothing.

Great point. And I agree. You can take the information without liking the source. I like some actors work, even if I do not like them as a person. But, to use this same analogy, imagine being someone who is in Germany in 1933. You see a leader as potentially dangerous. All the warning signs are there. But 90% of the people love him and following him . You're baffled by this and concerned. He's obviously a pathological liar and severely mentally ill. But, no one cares and still follows him. That's what this feels like. Obviously no one's died here (oh wait, haven't 2 people so far committed suicide based on her teachings?). What worries me most, beyond the damage she can be doing to the overall Enlightenment movement, is the potential of a Jim Jones situation. When you have a mentally ill deranged psychotic that is held as a spiritual leader and has millions of followers (and Teal does have millions of followers), history has shown that never ever ends well. I see that potential in Teal. I can care less if some of her words are inspirational.

To elaborate, I'm pondering why, even if her teachings were sound, would one accept this teaching, considering the source is a known liar, a fraud and obviously mentally ill? If I found out Leo was a heroin addict, beat women, was a self absorbed asshole, that thought enlightenment was a good money making scheme, I'd completely dismiss everything he had said or will say. All credibility is lost. So why is Teal getting a pass here?

I guess that's where I'm most confused here. Why would anyone listen to really anything she says, like at all? I listen to Leo, cause I trust him. I guess I'm baffled why anyone would take anything she says (if you knew all the information which I do not think most do) with any amount of credibility, authenticity or truthfulness. I know wouldn't and don't. But, each to their own I guess.

So what? Taking your words back does not negate that you said it in the first place. The point is, when one is following a spiritual teacher, and they clearly have narcissistic personality disorder, pathological lying and psychotic tendencies, by saying she is the reincarnation of Cleopatra, is half alien, had sex with corpses, lured many children to be murdered and so on, maybe one shouldn't give that a pass and maybe rethink following her. Just an opinion.

I'll give it a watch, with as open a mind as I can given the circumstances. Thanks!

They are video clips of her personally saying these things. All her own words. There are hundreds of clips of her saying some pretty outrageous things. She has since deleted all them, but this guy preserved them so people know what she has said. So people can make an informed decision to follow her teachings or not.

Glad you get value out of her videos. But, people having issues with Leo's teachings, and the things Teal have said are, to me, in whole different ballpark. Sure, if you have never heard of some of the more radical aspects of Enlightenment, it may sound crazy. But saying you had sex with a rotting corpse, while a man was eating it, is a whole other world of crazy. Seriously, watch the video. I personally wouldn't and couldn't follow anything a teacher says, if this is also what they are saying. She loses all credibility.

Hey everyone. I know this is a super old thread. But, someone on this Forum suggested a video by Teal Swan. I had never heard of her, so I watched some of her videos. I was immediately put off by her. Though it seemed like she was massively popular with people. One of her main videos was 2 hours of her countering claims that she is fraud. So I dug a little deeper, into what the controversy was about. I was shocked at what I found. This girl has serious issues. Watch this video. People have committed suicide based on her words. She claims to heal the sick, talk to the dead, talk to aliens. She claims to have been sewn up into a corpse (which is physically impossibly). She claims to have watched 6 children be murdered, yet no arrests. It's alarming that she has over 500,000 followers on youtube. And most of the comments here are favorable. Seems obvious to me she has psychotic traits, as well as narcissistic personality disorder. The lying, the delusions of grandeur. What scares me most, is this is becoming the norm for Spiritual leaders. For every Leo, there seems to be 10 nutjobs that are only getting into teaching spirituality for their own nefarious gains. There was the spiritual teacher that just got arrested for duping his female followers into sex slavery and branded them with his own initials. The real tragedy, is all these con artists are what the general pubic associates with the words 'Spirituality' or 'Enlightenment'. So when someone legit wants to teach, the majority of the public may avoid them, thinking that that teacher may be a con. It sets the whole evolution of humanity back. To me, that's the real harm of these can artists. Let alone, all the people they physically and emotionally harm in their strive for personal power over others. And for those of you here that are looking for more spiritual teachers, please do some research before investing emotionally in them. People like Teal Swan are dangerous for a multitude of reasons.

All of existence is a dream/hallucination/false construct, including your ideas, your thoughts, your beliefs, and the very idea of who you are and what the world is. You do not exist. So your dreams are just part of the whole, part of the dream that is this 'reality'. Your dreams are part of everything, which is nothingness. It has no meaning.

When A.I. eventually becomes self aware and fully conscious, how will this impact enlightenment? This will be the first time ever we will be able to communicate with another self aware being. If enlightenment is true, and there is no physical world or universe, only a field of consciousness that is infinite nothing, will A.I tell humanity this truth? A.I will be an infinitely intelligent being, with absolutely no sense of Ego. Do you think the creation of self aware A.I. will change humanities views of the very nature of reality?